AFFLUENCE

DIRECTORS’ REPORT

To the Members of

KOTAK MAHINDRA BANK LIMITED

The Directors present their Thirty-first Annual Report together with the audited accounts of your Bank for the year ended 31st March 2016.

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

Pursuant to the approval of the Reserve Bank of India to the Scheme of Amalgamation of ING Vysya Bank Ltd. (IVBL) with Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. (the Bank), IVBL merged with the Bank effective from 1st April 2015. The current year consolidated and standalone figures include operations of the erstwhile IVBL. Hence, the previous year figures are not comparable.

BONUS ISSUE OF SHARES

During the year, pursuant to approval of the shareholders of the Bank at the Annual General meeting held on 29th June 2015, your Bank issued 91,28,41,920 Bonus shares in the ratio of 1:1 i.e. one equity share for every one equity share held on the Record Date, to the Members on 10th July 2015.

DIVIDEND

Your Directors are pleased to recommend a dividend of Rs. 0.50 per equity share entailing a payout of Rs. 110.53 crore including dividend distribution tax. The dividend would be paid to all the shareholders, whose names appear on the Register of Members/Beneficial Holders list on the Book Closure date.

CAPITAL

During the year, your Bank has allotted 99,91,715 equity shares (adjusted for bonus) arising out of the exercise of Employees Stock Options granted to the employees and whole-time directors of your Bank and its subsidiaries. As per the ESOP Schemes of erstwhile ING Vysya Bank Ltd. (eIVBL), the stock options granted to the employees vested on an accelerated basis upon the merger. Consequently, the number of stock options on which vesting was accelerated was 1,04,91,900 (on a post swap basis, adjusted for bonus shares).

Post allotment of equity shares as aforesaid and the bonus allotment, the issued, subscribed and paid-up share capital of your Bank stands at Rs. 9,17,19,10,790 comprising of 1,83,43,82,158 equity shares of Rs. 5 each as on 31st March 2016.

Your Bank is well capitalised and has a Capital Adequacy Ratio (‘CAR’) under Basel III as at 31st March 2016 of 16.34% with Tier I being 15.28%.

During the year, your Bank has not issued any capital under Tier II. As on 31st March 2016, outstanding Unsecured, Redeemable Non-Convertible, Subordinated Debt Bonds were Rs. 969.7 crore and outstanding Unsecured, Non-Convertible, Redeemable Debt Capital Instruments Upper Tier II stood at Rs. 806.31 crore.

TERMINATION OF GDS PROGRAM

The Global Depository Shares (GDS) of the Bank were listed on Luxembourg Stock Exchange. Consequent to the issuance of notice of termination of the GDS program by the Bank to the Custodian and the Depository, the Depository Agreement entered into between the Bank and the Depository was terminated. Subsequently, the GDS program has been terminated with effect from 4th September 2015.

OPERATIONS

Consumer Banking

The merger of ING Vysya Bank (IVBL) with your Bank brought in 577 branches and 657 ATMs from the erstwhile IVBL.

Your Bank consolidated its network presence through a measured expansion of its footprint across the country and as of 31st March 2016 had 1333 branches and 2032 ATMs, covering 706 locations. Of the 74 new branches commissioned this year, 32 were in rural and semi-urban locations. Your Bank added about 10.96 lac new customers this year across core banking products of savings and checking accounts, term deposits, overdrafts and non-resident accounts.

Your Bank rolled out several initiatives aimed at offering a superior and differentiated customer experience. Some key ones are:

Products and Services

l Launched its first E-Lobby at Andheri Metro Station, Mumbai. The e-lobby offers a host of self service capabilities such as ATM, Banking Kiosk, Tablets, Surface Table, etc. which can be used by both customers and non-customers.

l Enhanced its suite of products positioned at specific customer segments and launched two new propositions, MY FAMILY - a savings bank proposition tailored exclusively for the entire family. The proposition gives the benefit of pooling in balances across family members & also gives them the benefit of a dedicated relationship manager for the family, and, ALPHA - a savings bank proposition linked to investments. The customer gets the benefit of a NMC waived savings account when they choose an RD (or) MF SIP (or) NPS along-with a term insurance premium of Rs. 300 per month (which offers a cover of Rs.20 lac) linked to their savings account. The proposition also offers Cash Back on Debit Card spends & is targeted for the age group of 18-55.

l Tied up with Thomas Cook and Kuoni Travels to offer a Holiday Savings Account linked to a Recurring Deposit. Customers get benefit of various

schemes & offers launched by these travel companies and the banking linkage enables them to save on a monthly basis to facilitate the holiday expense.

l Appointed as Authorised Collection Centre (ACC) by Stock Holding Corporation of India Ltd (SHCIL) for providing E-stamping facility in the states of Punjab and Rajasthan.

•  Appointed as one of the collecting Banks for Government of India’s Sovereign Gold Bonds and was actively involved in raising subscriptions across all three tranches.

•  Launched three new Current Account products - Kotak Pro Plus, Kotak Elite Plus and Kotak Ace Plus offering more efficient cash management in select locations.

• Introduced Kotak Cheque Protect, a calibrated credit oriented program for offering cheque protection facility to existing customers for honouring cheques in the event of shortfall in the bank account, based on certain pre-approved parameters.

• Implemented Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) / Common Reporting Standard (CRS) which requires the Bank to carry out due diligence of its customers to identify the individuals and entities which fulfill the indices as prescribed by the regulatory bodies and reporting to the Indian tax authorities for onward submission of information to foreign authorities as appropriate.

Business Lines

a) Non Resident Indian Business

Some of the key initiatives taken this year are:

•  Extended C2R money transfer mode for Canada. Your Bank’s NRI clients can now use this medium to transfer money from Canada to their Kotak Bank account in India.

•  Further expanded the network of exchange house relationships and the count now stands at 26.

•  As a platform to reach out to the overseas Indian community, your Bank has participated in various international business forums organized by the Indian community in various countries.

•  In order to work closely with the mariner community & shipping companies your Bank has participated in various mariner events nationally.

b) Priority Banking Business

Privy League program, positioned to cater to the affluent segment, now services 3.4 lac customers. A new tier-“Insignia” was launched at select locations to cater to customers with group relationship value of at least Rs. 1 crore. A Corporate Credit card with exclusive benefits for Privy League Business banking customers was introduced to increase the segmental focus in the program. To address customers’ need for legacy planning, Smart Will, an automated online will writing solution was launched in association with Kotak Securities.

c) Corporate Salary Business

Salary2Wealth – Your Bank’s corporate salary business now caters to over 17 lac customers across 13,700 corporates. The Salary2Wealth book grew by 33% Y-o-Y to close the year at Rs. 3,988 crore and acquired 4.90 lac new customers with more than 1,700 new corporate sign-up’s.

d) Consumer Assets

Your Bank has continued to grow the product lines under the Consumer Assets business.

Credit Card: Credit card business has issued 6.34 lac cards by March 2016 and is in its seventh year of operations. The premium range of our products – VISA Signature and VISA Platinum have driven the spends growth in the portfolio and it contributes to 42% of spends. The credit card business has clocked total spends of Rs. 4,543 crore for the year at 42% growth Y-o-Y with a book size of Rs.942 crore.

Salaried Personal Loan: Salaried personal loan business offers salaried individuals personal loans with a tenure of upto 60 months. This year the business has grown by 70% with outstanding loans of Rs. 1,416 crore as of March 2016. The total customer base stands at 47,500 customers.

Home Finance: Home finance business clocked growth of 19% in disbursements with loan book growth of 19%. Your Bank has expanded its home finance business further in Tier II cities. Cross Sell through Bank Branches, Corporate Salary, Privy, and Wealth Teams contributed to around 38% of total volume. This year also witnessed very low losses on account of effective recovery and collection processes and policies adopted.

e) Business Banking Assets (BBA)

Your Bank through its BBA division offers secured and unsecured Business loans, Loans against Property & Working Capital Finance to selfemployed professionals / non-professionals and Small & Medium Enterprises. This has been a landmark year for your Bank’s BBA business with its book growing by 30%. It continues to maintain its best in class portfolio quality through it effective and efficient risk management and recovery policies and practices. Capitalizing on the growing retail branch network, your Bank managed to expand its BBA product offering in over 450 branches.

Wholesale Banking

Your Bank through its consolidated franchise has focussed on serving customers’ requirements across segments with its wide array of customized financial products and services that are driven through best-in-class technology platforms. Your Bank is a trusted banking franchise consistently delivering right and customised solutions to high quality customers through a passionate and entrepreneurial team.

Focussed approach on client selection and constant portfolio monitoring has ensured a healthy portfolio through both volatile economic situation and tough credit environment in the last financial year. In order to give more focus to our client activities, your Bank created a separate Corporate, Institutional & Investment Banking vertical which covers selected large Indian corporate houses with a view to provide a single platform to service both their corporate banking and investment banking needs. Consequent to the merger of ING Vysya Bank Limited with your Bank, we now have a strong presence in the multinational segment i.e. as a banker to various multinational companies present in India.

The Integrated Global Transaction Banking with enhanced suite of products and solutions is steered by innovation, technology & “Kona Kona Kotak”.

The merger has opened up new opportunities to cater to needs of customer segments such as Insurance, Corresponding Banking and Multinational Companies. In addition to serving existing customers as well as being bankers’ Bank on Global Transaction Banking, your Bank has led from the front in offering services to new age segments viz. E-com and M-com. Your Bank recognises the dynamic landscape in Transaction Banking and the evolving Banking space and has suitably invested in fintech initiatives. It is your Bank’s endeavour to continue to provide simple, secure, reliable solutions leading to superior customer experience.

Your Bank has been in the limelight for its people, products and services. It has been adjudged Best Cash Management Bank across business categories – Small, Medium and Large Corporates. The Global Custodian magazine has conferred a dual recognition for the Custody Business in the India Domestic Survey and later in the Survey of Agent Banks in Emerging Markets.

Your Bank has introduced the following key initiatives to serve customers better:

•  Service Support: To ensure a faster customer response, a Service Solutions vertical was set up during the year. This vertical is the single point of contact for all service related and documentation issues for wholesale customers with personnel present across all key major 9 locations across the country.

•  Secure Internet Banking: Given the growing online frauds, the security of the net banking platform has been further strengthened by offering secured token for logging in. Customers can use the dynamic number on the token along with the password to access the account online and transact thereafter.

•  KashPay: Offers “walkin” cash and cheque collection services through branch network thereby enhancing the reach and convenience for the customer. The product is capable of validating the collection data pre-fed by customer to ensure only valid requests are processed. The transaction processing is supported by comprehensive MIS for ease of reconciliation and instant status of collection.

•  Operation SAHAJ: In order to gain increased efficiencies, your Bank has started Operation SAHAJ. This focusses on improving existing client facing or back-end process in order to deliver superior service to the client with a lower turnaround time without compromising on credit / operational risk. One of our client facing endeavours has been able to open any account in one day post receiving the complete documentation. As of today, courtesy Operation SAHAJ, accounts are being opened within the target of one day. Further, various products are implementing monitoring and control systems to measure and improve service parameters.

•  Trade: Tie up with multiple offshore banks for facilitating client transactions like offshore guarantees, ECA financing, ECB funding, offshore subsidiary funding etc. Your Bank is preferred trade partner for top banks for Europe and US region for their India centric business. Financial/ Performance Guarantees, Letter of Credit and remittances of these banks now are handled at your Bank counters.

Commercial Banking

The Commercial Banking business has registered a reasonable growth in FY 2015-16 despite subdued market sentiments and erratic monsoon.

Commercial Vehicles (CV) and Construction Equipment (CE) sectors, which have been witnessing slowdown since 2011, showed strong signs of recovery. The CV situation has improved significantly over the previous year, especially in the case of Medium Commercial Vehicle (MCV) & Heavy Commercial Vehicle (HCV) sales across segments, which was driven by replacement demand. Your Bank has increased exposure significantly to this sector in FY 2015-16. Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) segment has also grown over the previous year. Further, decrease in energy prices and all round improvement of load factors have improved viability for transport operations and also reduced levels of delinquency. Small Commercial Vehicles (SCV) segment is also showing signs of recovery with marginal growth in the last quarter.

Despite a second back to back dry spell last year, the agri business (including the tractor finance business) managed to grow last year with the loans outstanding of Rs.17,993 crore. The agri business increased its focus on financial inclusion activities by directly financing the micro loans segment for women’s Joint Liability Groups. Close to 56,000 women borrowers were added with loan sizes of around Rs.20,000 each to women in the states of UP and Bihar.

Your Bank has maintained its market share in the tractor finance business. While the delinquencies in this segment have increased, it is under control.

Activities in focus were loans for construction of ware houses & cold storages, warehouse receipt funding under pledge, micro loans and loans for purchase of pumps etc. These loans qualified for small and marginal farmer categorisations and direct individual farmer funding. Other Agri loans included loans for food and Agro processing units.

The agri division (including tractor finance) continued to manage its delinquency though incremental stress was observed across locations due to monsoon shortfall.

The growth of the Emerging Corporate Group’s (ECG) portfolio has been modest in FY 2015-16. There has been an increase in delinquencies in this segment, mainly on account of volatile commodity prices and uncertainty in the economy.

Asset Reconstruction

It was challenging to sell large assets under possession as the market was sluggish for real estate sales. The legal judicial system continues to languish in terms of passing timely orders which cause significant delay in timely and effective recoveries.

The division continued to focus on last mile financing to companies which are on the turnaround path with clear focus on cash flow based recoveries.

The recoveries from NPA purchase of retail portfolio continues to be robust.

Your Bank believes that banks and NBFCs in the next few years will continue to sell their retail NPA portfolios, which will help the division to acquire more portfolios.

Treasury

Your Bank’s treasury actively contributes to your Bank by way of:

• Proprietary Trading: The various proprietary trading desks actively trade in products such as Fixed Income, Money Markets, Derivatives, Foreign Exchange and Bullion. Primary Dealer Desk – part of the proprietary trading desk, actively participates in the primary auctions of government securities, makes market in government securities and engages in retailing of government securities.

• Customer Transactions:

o Facilitating access to foreign currency markets through cash & derivatives products and providing fine market rates to clients for remittance and trade transactions.

o Client solutions - standardised and structured, pertaining to Debt Capital Markets including Syndication of Loans, Bonds, Mezzanine financing, Promoter funding and acquisition financing and Securitisation.

• Balance Sheet Management: The Balance Sheet Management Unit (BMU) manages the Asset Liability mismatches, Interest rate & Liquidity gaps and implementation of Funds Transfer Pricing between various business units. The Correspondent Banking Division within treasury actively builds on relationships with offshore banks towards improving quality and international reach for its customers.

Human Resources

The year 2015-16 has been a year of continued focus on employee well-being and investment in human capital stayed significant.

Your Bank undertook substantial work to drive the ‘core’ values and culture of the Bank in the last year that strengthened the merger of erstwhile ING Vysya Bank with Kotak Mahindra Bank. To ensure a seamless cultural integration, various initiatives were launched to internalize behavioral parameters and the values across the organization. Further thrust was laid on employee engagement through its linkage to behavioral parameters.

Your Bank has taken strides in the past year and continues to grow with a talent base of over 31,000 employees. A proactive approach to adopting the best of human resource practices, efficient systems, processes and continuous investments in technology has helped manage the scale and complexity of a large and distributed workforce.

With an average age of 33 years your Bank continues to attract talent across all its businesses and hierarchy. Pre-trained manpower acquisition channels such as Kotak Sales Officer (KSO) and Junior Sales Officer (JSO) programs have been further strengthened to create a sustainable workforce pipeline. To enhance ability to deliver on strategic work-force planning and hiring goals, a dedicated team was institutionalized to focus on end to end talent acquisition process – maximizing channel efficiencies, optimizing costs, simplifying and standardizing hiring process and creating a seamless hiring experience to potential employees.

With 19% of the workforce being women, your Bank realizes that achieving progressive gender representation requires addressing mindsets and developing a more inclusive, holistic diversity agenda. Your Bank continues to strive to provide opportunities for a diverse and competent workforce.

Your Bank is committed to developing its capabilities as an organization and as individuals to meet current and future business challenges. In the year 2015-16, we have invested significantly in training and professional development – leveraging the latest technologies to deliver highly impactful and relevant training programs to our employees. These learning initiatives are designed around development of individual and team competencies in partnership with top academic institutions and renowned industry professionals. Leadership Development Programs focused on developing the leadership capabilities of our senior executives, to help them prepare for future roles in the organization.

Your Bank continues its focus on engagement and retention through initiatives that provides a holistic environment where employees get opportunities to realize their potential. Talent management as an integral part of overall performance management process in the Bank aims to provide long term, sustained and meaningful careers to employees across the organization. ‘Pulse’ engagement survey, along with other engagement initiatives, provided insights on distinct employee needs that helped developing appropriate interventions.

We are entering a new age where digital is default and this technological change is shaping the sociological change impacting every facet of life and work. Anticipating digital being a significant transformation opportunity, we are on the journey to leverage digital technology to enable greater engagement, interaction and flexibility.

Guided by our value system that motivates our attitudes and action, your Bank is focused on forward looking policies, lean processes and nurturing talent.

Technology

With the announcement of the merger with ING Vysya Bank, your Bank took up the initiative of merging the technology systems and data of the two banks. The merger provided an opportunity to leverage the “best of breed” systems from both banks. As the technology integration progressed across business verticals, your Bank identified synergies in systems and capabilities to optimize costs across the technology operations of the two banks. The merged systems will provide a standard customer experience across all channels to all customers of the merged entities.

Customer data security and risk management need to keep pace with digital offerings. With this in mind, the Distributed Denial of Service was augmented with an in-premise solution. A fraud management solution to track customer transactions across channels was implemented. On the regulatory side, a new Enterprise Risk System was implemented for the Value at Risk calculation of the treasury products.

Digitization

Focus on creating more and more digitally enabled services across channels remained a key priority for your Bank in this year. Some of the highlights being:

•  Launched a comprehensive microsite for New Pension System with various calculators and educative content to demystify the concept of pension and also enable people to get started with opening their pension account online.

• Launched a real time customer acquisition platform for personal loan, where a customer PAN, Adhaar & CIBIL are checked real time & decision about the loan amount and interest rate can be given instantly.

•  Launched Pre-approved Personal Loan on Net Banking for salaried customers. This enables a pre-qualified customer to apply for personal loan while logged into the net-banking account and the disbursed amount is instantly credited to customer’s banking account.

•  Launched tab based account opening process for Saving Account. This is an end-to-end digitized workflow, from lead capture to account set up, thereby reducing the processing time and enhancing customer experience.

•  Hashtag banking was given further fillip by creating capability to order a book or special promotional movies by just a single tweet.

•  Launched Kotak Bharat Banking - India’s first internet-free app. This app does not need internet to transact. Customer can do 25 different transactions including mobile recharge and small value fund transfer. The app is available in 6 languages (Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Kannada and English). Response messages within the app will also be in regional language.

•  Rolled out e-store on Net Banking after successful roll out of m-store on banking app. This includes travel categories like flight tickets, bus tickets and hotel booking.

•  Introduced new features in the iPhone version of mobile app. iPhone customers can now book a Recurring Deposit (RD), Add a new biller and set Auto Pay amongst various new services introduced.

• Turn-around times for lending to commercial customers significantly improved by digitizing the process by introducing a tablet based lead management system for use by sales people in the field.

•  Corporate customers got an upgraded FX trading portal.

•  Digitization for wealth management customers was also strengthened with the launch of a portal providing a single view of all their investments.

Investment in Airtel M Commerce Services Ltd.

Airtel M Commerce Services Ltd. Company (AMSL), 100% subsidiary of Bharti Airtel Ltd. (BAL), had been granted in-principle approval for setting up a Payments Bank by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in August 2015. Basic but critical services such as small savings account, remittances etc. will bring a large number of low income households and small businesses under formal banking network. Your Bank in February 2016 has signed a Share Subscription and Shareholders Agreement with AMSL and BAL for acquisition of 19.90% equity stake in AMSL. Subsequently, your Bank has invested in AMSL. AMSL has received final license from RBI in April 2016.

SUBSIDIARIES & ASSOCIATES

Your Bank’s subsidiaries are established players in the different areas of financial services, viz. car finance, investment banking, stock broking, asset management and life insurance.

As at 31st March 2016, your Bank has eighteen (18) subsidiaries as listed below:

Domestic Subsidiaries

Kotak Mahindra Prime Limited

Kotak Securities Limited

Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Limited

Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance Limited

Kotak Mahindra Investments Limited

Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company Limited

Kotak Mahindra Trustee Company Limited

Kotak Investment Advisors Limited

Kotak Mahindra Trusteeship Services Limited

Kotak Forex Brokerage Limited

Kotak Mahindra Pension Fund Limited

Kotak Mahindra General Insurance Company Limited

IVY Product Intermediaries Limited (formerly known as ‘ING Vysya Financial Services Limited’)

International Subsidiaries

Kotak Mahindra (International) Limited

Kotak Mahindra (UK) Limited

Kotak Mahindra Inc.

Kotak Mahindra Financial Services Limited

Kotak Mahindra Asset Management (Singapore) Pte. Limited

Kotak Mahindra General Insurance Company Limited, which was incorporated in December 2014 with principal objective of carrying on business of general insurance, received approval from Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) to commence the business of general insurance in November 2015 and subsequently commenced its operations in December 2015.

The various activities of the subsidiaries and the performance and financial position of the subsidiaries and associates are outlined in the Management Discussion and Analysis section appended to this Report.

The Bank’s Policy for determining material subsidiaries is available on the Bank’s website viz. URL: http://ir.kotak.com/governance/policies.html As at 31st March 2016, your Bank has following four (4) Associate companies:

ACE Derivatives & Commodity Exchange Limited

Infina Finance Private Limited

Matrix Business Services India Private Limited

Phoenix ARC Private Limited

The Annual Report which consists of the financial statements of your Bank on standalone basis as well as consolidated financial statements of the group for the year ended 31st March 2016, is sent to all the members of your Bank. Web link of the Annual Report is sent to all members whose email IDs are registered with the Bank/Depository Participant(s). For members who have not registered their email IDs, physical copies of the Annual Report are sent. It does not contain Annual Reports of your Bank’s subsidiary companies. Your Bank will make available full Annual Report (including the Annual Reports of all subsidiaries) either a hard or soft copy depending upon request by any member of your Bank. These Annual Reports will be available on your Bank’s website viz. URL: http://ir.kotak.com/annual-reports and will also be available for inspection by any member at the Registered Office of your Bank.

EMPLOYEE STOCK OPTION & STOCK APPRECIATION RIGHTS SCHEMES

The shareholders of the Bank at its Annual General Meeting held on 29th June 2015 approved a new Scheme under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Share Based Employee Benefits) Regulations, 2014, for the purposes of granting options and stock appreciation rights to the employees of the Bank, its subsidiaries and its associate companies, as applicable, viz. Kotak Mahindra Share Based Employee Benefit Scheme 2015 comprising of:

•  Kotak Mahindra Equity Option Scheme 2015 and

•  Kotak Mahindra Stock Appreciation Rights Scheme 2015

Further, pursuant to the Scheme of Amalgamation of ING Vysya Bank (IVBL) with the Bank, the ESOP Schemes of the erstwhile IVBL have been renamed and adopted by the Bank, as given below:

•  Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. (IVBL) Employees Stock Option Scheme 2005

•  Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. (IVBL) Employees Stock Option Scheme 2007

•  Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. (IVBL) Employee Stock Option Scheme 2010

•  Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. (IVBL) Employees Stock Option Scheme 2013

The stock options granted to the employees currently operate under the following Schemes:

•  Kotak Mahindra Equity Option Scheme 2007

•  Kotak Mahindra Equity Option Scheme 2015

•  Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. (IVBL) Employees Stock Option Scheme 2007

•  Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. (IVBL) Employee Stock Option Scheme 2010

•  Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. (IVBL) Employees Stock Option Scheme 2013

The disclosure requirements under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Share Based Employee Benefits) Regulations, 2014, for the aforesaid ESOP & SARs Schemes, in respect of the year ended 31st March 2016, are disclosed on the Bank’s website viz. URL: http://ir.kotak.com/annual-reports

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND BUSINESS RESPONSIBILITY REPORT

Pursuant to Regulation 27 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 (SEBI LODR Regulations), a separate section entitled ‘Report on Corporate Governance’ has been included in this Annual Report. The Report of Corporate Governance also contains certain disclosures required under the Companies Act, 2013. A Business Responsibility Report containing the requisite details under Regulation 34 of the SEBI LODR Regulations is disclosed on the Bank’s website viz. URL: http://ir.kotak.com/annual-reports

DIRECTORS & KEY MANAGERIAL PERSONNEL

Directors retiring by rotation

Mr. N.P. Sarda (DIN 03480129), Non-Executive & Non-Independent Director of the Bank, retires by rotation as a Director at this Annual General Meeting but having crossed 70 years of age is not offering himself for re-appointment in line with Reserve Bank of India policy and directions.

The Bank does not intend to fill this vacancy at this Annual General Meeting.

Changes in Directors

Mr. C. Jayaram (DIN 00012214), retired as Joint Managing Director of the Bank on 30th April 2016, on attaining the age of superannuation. However, Mr. Jayaram continues as a Non-Executive Non-Independent Director of the Bank with effect from 1st May 2016 up to the date of this Annual General Meeting. Approval of shareholders is being sought at this Annual General Meeting for his appointment as a Non-executive Non-Independent Director of the Bank who would be liable to retire by rotation.

Mr. Asim Ghosh (DIN 00116139), retired as a Director of the Bank with effect from 9th May 2016 due to completion of his eight years tenure pursuant to the provisions of Section 10A(2A)(i) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.

Your Directors place on record their appreciation for the valuable advice and guidance rendered by Mr. N.P. Sarda and Mr. Asim Ghosh during their tenure as Directors of the Bank.

The details of the Directors appointed are set out in the Corporate Governance Report annexed to this Report.

Declaration from Independent Directors

The Board has received declarations from the Independent Directors as per the requirement of Section 149(7) of the Companies Act, 2013 and the Board is satisfied that the Independent Directors meet the criteria of independence as mentioned in Section 149(6) of the Companies Act, 2013.

Board Evaluation

The Nomination and Remuneration Committee of the Bank’s Board under the expert advice of an external agency specialized in Human Resource and management consultancy, has formulated the criteria for performance evaluation of the Directors and the Board as a whole. The Criteria formulated broadly covers the Board role, Board/Committee membership, practice & procedure and collaboration & style.

A Board effectiveness assessment questionnaire was designed for the performance evaluation of the Board, its Committees, Chairman and individual directors in accordance with the criteria set and covering various aspects of performance including composition, relationship among directors, director competency, contribution to risk management compliance, roles and responsibility, board procedures, processes, functioning and effectiveness. The said questionnaire was circulated to all the directors of the Bank for the annual performance evaluation.

Based on the assessment of the responses received to the questionnaire from the directors on the annual evaluation of the Board, its Committees, Chairman and the individual Directors, the Board Evaluation Report was placed before the meeting of the Independent Directors for consideration.

Similarly, the Board at its meeting assessed the performance of the Independent Directors. The Directors were satisfied with the results of the performance evaluation of the Board & its Committees, Chairman and individual directors.

Key Managerial Personnel (KMPs)

Mr. C. Jayaram ceased to be a ‘Key Managerial Personnel’ with effect from 1st May 2016 upon his retirement as a Joint Managing Director of the Bank.

The following officials of the Bank continue to be the “Key Managerial Personnel” pursuant to the provisions of Section 203 of the Companies Act, 2013:

• Mr. Uday Kotak, Executive Vice Chairman and Managing Director

•  Mr. Dipak Gupta, Joint Managing Director

•  Mr. Jaimin Bhatt, President & Group Chief Financial Officer

•  Ms. Bina Chandarana, Company Secretary

Appointment & Remuneration of Directors & KMPs

The appointment and remuneration of Directors of the Bank is governed by the provisions of Section 35B of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. The Nomination and Remuneration Committee of the Bank’s Board has formulated criteria for appointment of Senior Management personnel and the Directors. Based on the criteria set it recommends to the Board the appointment of Directors and Senior Management personnel. The Committee considers the qualifications, experience, fit & proper status, positive attributes as per the suitability of the role, independent status and various regulatory/statutory requirements as may be required of the candidate before such appointment.

The Reserve Bank of India (‘RBI’) vide its circular no.DBOD.No.BC.72/29.67.001/2011-12 dated 13th January 2012 has issued the Guidelines on Compensation of Whole Time Directors / Chief Executive Officers / Other Risk Takers of Private Sector Banks on Compensation Policy which inter alia cover the following:

• Proper balance between fixed pay and variable pay;

• Variable pay not to exceed 70% (Seventy Per Cent) of the fixed pay in a year;

In accordance with the aforesaid RBI Circular, the Board of the Bank has adopted a Compensation Policy for its Whole-time Directors, Chief Executive Officer of the Bank and other employees which includes issue of stock appreciation rights as a form of variable pay, linked to the Bank’s stock price, payable over a period of time. The salient features of the Compensation Policy are as follows:

• Objective is to maintain fair, consistent and equitable compensation practices in alignment with Kotak’s core values and strategic business goals.

• Applicable to all employees of the Bank. Employees classified into 3 groups:

o Whole-time Directors/Chief Executive Officer

o Risk Control and Compliance Staff

o Other categories of Staff

•  Compensation structure broadly divided into Fixed, Variable and ESOPs

o Fixed Pay – Total cost to the Company i.e. Salary, Retirals and Other Benefits

o Variable Pay – Linked to assessment of performance and potential based on Balanced Key Result Areas (KRAs), Standards of Performance and achievement of targets with overall linkage to Bank budgets and business objectives. The main form of incentive compensation includes – Cash, Deferred Cash/Incentive Plan and Stock Appreciation Rights.

o ESOPs – Granted on a discretionary basis to employee based on their performance and potential with the objective of retaining the employee.

•  Compensation Composition – The ratio of Variable Pay to Fixed Pay and the ratio of Cash v/s Non Cash within Variable pay outlined for each category of employee classification.

•  Any variation in the Policy to be with approval of the Nomination & Remuneration Committee.

•  Malus and Clawback clauses applicable on Deferred Variable Pay.

•  Ensuring no personal hedging strategies by employees which undermine risk alignment effects as part of their remuneration.

The details of the remuneration paid to the Non-Executive Chairman, Executive and Non-Executive Directors of the Bank for the year ended 31st March 2016 is provided in the Corporate Governance Report annexed to this Report.

The Non-Executive Chairman of the Bank receives a fixed amount of remuneration as recommended by the Board and approved by the shareholders of the Bank and RBI, from time to time. He also receives remuneration by way of sitting fees for attending meetings of the Board or Committees thereof.

RBI vide its circular no. DBR.No.BC.97/29.67.001/2014-15 dated June 1, 2015 has issued guidelines on payment of compensation to the NEDs of private sector banks which inter-alia specifies the following:

•  The Board of Directors of the Bank (in consultation with the Nomination & Remuneration Committee) needs to formulate and adopt a comprehensive compensation policy for NEDs (other than part-time non-executive Chairman).

•  Maximum amount of profit related commission not to exceed Rs.10 lac per annum for each director of the Bank.

Accordingly, in line with the RBI circular and pursuant to the relevant provisions of the Companies Act, 2013, and the recommendation of the

Nomination and Remuneration Committee of the Bank, the Board of Directors have adopted a compensation policy for the NEDs (excluding the parttime Non-Executive Chairman). The salient features of the Compensation Policy are as follows:

•  Compensation structure broadly divided into

o Sitting fees

o Re-imbursement of expenses

o Commission (profit based)

•  Amount of sitting fees and commission to be decided by the Board from time to time, subject to the regulatory limits.

•  Overall cap on commission for each director Rs.10 lac per annum.

•  NEDs not eligible for any stock options of the Bank.

Approval of shareholders for the payment of commission to the NEDs of the Bank is being sought at the ensuing Annual General Meeting of the Bank.

Remuneration paid to the KMPs is in line with the Compensation Policy of the Bank which is based on the RBI Guidelines.

SECRETARIAL AUDITOR

Pursuant to Section 204 of the Companies Act, 2013, your Bank has appointed Ms. Rupal D. Jhaveri, a Company Secretary in Practice, as its Secretarial Auditor. The Secretarial Audit Report for the financial year ended 31st March 2016 is annexed to this Report.

DEPOSITS

Being a banking company, the disclosures required as per Rule 8(5)(v) & (vi) of the Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014, read with Section 73 and 74 of the Companies Act, 2013 are not applicable to your Bank.

AUDITORS

In terms of Section 139 of the Companies Act, 2013, Messrs S.R. Batliboi & Co. LLP, Chartered Accountants, were appointed as statutory auditors of your Bank for a period of four years from the conclusion of the Thirtieth Annual General Meeting until the conclusion of the Thirty fourth Annual General Meeting of the Bank, subject to the annual approval of RBI and ratification by the members every year. Accordingly, requisite resolution forms part of the Notice convening the Annual General Meeting.

INTERNAL FINANCIAL CONTROLS

The Board of Directors confirms that your Bank has laid down set of standards, processes and structure which enables to implement Internal Financial controls across the organization with reference to Financial Statements and that such controls are adequate and are operating effectively. During the year under review, no material or serious observation has been observed for inefficiency or inadequacy of such controls.

RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

All the Related Party Transactions that were entered into during the financial year were on arm’s length basis and were in ordinary course of business.

Pursuant to Section 134(3)(h) read with Rule 8(2) of the Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014, there are no transactions to be reported under Section 188(1) of the Companies Act, 2013, in form AOC-2.

All Related Party Transactions as required under Accounting Standards AS-18 are reported in Note 24 of Schedule 17 - Notes to Accounts of the Consolidated financial statements and Note 7 of Schedule 18 C - Notes to Accounts of the Standalone financial statements of your Bank.

The Bank’s Policy on dealing with Related Party Transactions is available on the Bank’s website viz. URL: http://ir.kotak.com/governance/policies.html

PARTICULARS OF LOANS, GUARANTEES OR INVESTMENTS

Pursuant to Section 186(11) of the Companies Act, 2013, loans made, guarantees given, securities provided or acquisition of securities by a banking company in the ordinary course of its business are exempted from the disclosure requirement under Section 134(3)(g) of the Companies Act, 2013.

WHISTLE BLOWER POLICY / VIGIL MECHANISM

Your Bank is committed to its “Vision Statement” of upholding its Global Indian Financial Services Brand creating an ethos of trust across all constituents, developing a culture of empowerment and a spirit of enterprise thereby becoming the most preferred employer in the financial services sector.

Consistent with the Vision Statement, your Bank is committed to maintain and provide to all its employees and directors highest standards of transparency, probity and accountability. The Kotak Group endeavours to develop a culture where it is safe and acceptable for all employees and directors to raise / voice genuine concerns in good faith, and in a responsible as well as effective manner.

A vigil mechanism has been implemented through the adoption of Whistleblower Policy with an objective to enable any employee or director, raise genuine concern or report evidence of activity by the Bank or its employee or director that may constitute: Instances of corporate fraud; unethical business conduct; a violation of Central or State laws, rules, regulations and/or any other regulatory or judicial directives; any unlawful act, whether criminal or civil; malpractice; serious irregularities; impropriety, abuse or wrong doing; deliberate breaches and non-compliance with the Bank’s policies; questionable accounting/audit matters/financial malpractice. The same option has now been extended to the vendors of the Bank also. The concerns can be reported on the website viz. URL: https://cwiportal.com/kotak.

Currently an online mechanism enabling aforementioned reporting has been implemented over and above other modes of communication like e-mail, or a letter sent by mail, courier or fax to designated persons.

Safeguards to avoid discrimination, retaliation, or harassment, and confidentiality have been incorporated in the policy. All employees and directors have access to the Chairman of the Audit Committee in appropriate and exception circumstances.

The Policy has been uploaded on the Bank’s intranet as well as website viz. URL: http://ir.kotak.com/governance/policies.html and regular communication is made for sustained awareness.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR)

Your Bank has constituted a Board Corporate Social Responsibility Committee (CSR Committee) and consists of the following Directors:

• Mr. C Jayaram, Non-Executive Non-Independent Director & Chairman of the CSR Committee

• Mr. Dipak Gupta, Joint Managing Director

• Prof S. Mahendra Dev, Independent Director

Your Bank’s CSR Committee drives the CSR programme of the Bank. Your Bank has a Board approved CSR policy, charting out its CSR approach. This policy articulates the Bank’s aim to positively contribute towards economic, environmental and social well-being of communities through its Corporate Social Responsibility agenda. The Bank’s CSR agenda is driven by its key focus areas:

a. Promoting education – primary focus area

b. Enhancing vocational skills and livelihood

c. Promoting preventive healthcare and sanitation

d. Reducing inequalities faced by socially and economically backward groups

e. Sustainable development

f. Relief and rehabilitation

g. Clean India

h. Sports

The Bank’s CSR policy is available on the Bank’s website viz. URL : http://www.kotak.com/corporate-responsibility.html Pursuant to the provisions of Section 135, schedule VII of the Companies Act 2013 (the Act), read with the Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility) Rules, 2014 the report of the expenditure on CSR by the Company is as under:

The average net profit U/S 198 of the Bank standalone for the last three financial years preceding 31st March, 2016 is Rs. 2,366.37 crore.

The prescribed CSR expenditure required U/S 135, of the Act for FY 2015-16 is Rs. 4,733 lac.

The CSR expenditure incurred for the period 1st April 2015 to 31st March 2016 under Section 135 of Companies Act, 2013 amounts to Rs. 1,641 lac as against Rs. 1,197 lac CSR spend in the financial year 2014-15.

CSR expenditure of Rs. 1,641 lac in FY 2015-16 as a percentage of average net profit U/S 198 of the Bank standalone at Rs. 2,366.37 crore is 0.69%.

Your Bank is building its CSR capabilities on a sustainable basis and is committed to gradually increase its CSR spend in the coming years. The CSR Committee of the Board confirms that the implementation and monitoring of CSR Policy, is in compliance with CSR objectives and Policy of the company.

The details of CSR activities and spends under Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 for FY 2015-16, are annexed to this Report.

RISK MANAGEMENT POLICY

Your Bank has in place a comprehensive Enterprise wide Risk Management (ERM) framework supported by detailed policies and processes for management of Credit Risk, Market Risk, Liquidity Risk, Operational Risk and various other Risks. Details of identification, assessment, mitigations, monitoring and the management of these Risks are mentioned in the Management Discussion and Analysis section appended to this Report.

CONSERVATION OF ENERGY, TECHNOLOGY ABSORPTION, FOREIGN EXCHANGE EARNINGS AND OUTGO

The provisions of Section 134(3)(m) of the Companies Act, 2013 read with Rule 8(3) of the Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014 are not applicable to your Bank.

EMPLOYEES

The employee strength of your Bank, standalone, was over 31,000 and along with its subsidiaries was over 46,000 as of 31st March 2016.

312 employees employed throughout the year and 132 employees employed for part of the year were in receipt of remuneration of Rs. 60 lac or more per annum.

With an average age of 33 years your Bank continues to attract talent across all its businesses and hierarchy and has put in place various processes and systems to ensure alignment of employee behaviors with the organization’s core values.

Organizational culture aspects like trust & inclusiveness were also reiterated through 90+ cross functional meets conducted by senior business leaders for employees at mid management level under the “Meet 5” initiative.

In a very short span, your Bank has crossed several milestones in its Gender Diversity agenda.

•  A differentiated talent acquisition strategy to increase women employee base across various suitable roles has helped us to continue adding 20% women amongst all new hires in the Bank. While continuing with our philosophy of providing equal opportunities, an aggressive push in this area will help us achieve a better balance in gender diversity.

•  Your Bank’s top senior women professionals (around forty women across Kotak) have been brought together under our diversity initiative “Astra” and these women leaders now play a pivotal role in guiding and mentoring other mid-level women employees to sustain and grow in the careers.

•  Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH): Your Bank continues with the belief on zero tolerance towards sexual harassment at workplace and continues to uphold and maintain itself as a safe and non-discriminatory organization. To achieve the same Kotak reinforces the understanding and awareness of Prevention of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. Your Bank has formulated Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) at three regions for reporting any untoward instance. Any complaints pertaining to sexual harassment are diligently reviewed and investigated and treated with great sensitivity. The ICC members have been trained in handling and resolving complaints and have also designed an online e-learning POSH Awareness module which covers the larger employee base.

Following is a summary of sexual harassment complaints received and disposed of during the year 2015-16:

o No. of complaints received : 8

o No. of complaints disposed of : 4

In the case of 4 pending cases, enquiries were in progress at the close of the year.

With our objective to identify, build and nurture leaders across levels to deliver superior business results and address individual career aspirations, this year your Bank introduced a new contemporary approach to assess and diagnose leadership competency gaps followed by a development plan.

As your Bank enters in its next phase of growth and expansion of footprint across urban and rural India, your Bank and its subsidiaries continued to carry out several initiatives to attract and retain a pool of highly skilled and motivated employees who are aligned to the firm’s vision of becoming the most trusted financial services provider.

In accordance with the provisions of Rule 5 of the Companies (Appointment and Remuneration of Managerial Personnel) Rules, 2014 the names and other particulars of employees are set out in the annexure to the Directors’ Report. In terms of the Proviso to Section 136(1) of the Companies Act, 2013, the Directors’ Report is being sent to all shareholders excluding the aforesaid annexure. The annexure is available for inspection at the Registered Office of your Bank. Any shareholder interested in obtaining a copy of the said annexure may write to the Company Secretary at the Registered Office of your Bank.

DIRECTORS’ RESPONSIBILITY STATEMENT

The Directors, based on the representations received from the operational management, confirm in pursuance of Section 134(5) of the Companies Act, 2013, that:

(i) your Bank has, in the preparation of the annual accounts for the year ended 31st March 2016, followed the applicable accounting standards along with proper explanations relating to material departures, if any;

(ii) they have selected such accounting policies and applied them consistently and made judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent so as to give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of your Bank as at 31st March 2016 and of the profit of your Bank for the financial year ended 31st March 2016;

(iii) they have taken proper and sufficient care to the best of their knowledge and ability, for the maintenance of adequate accounting records in accordance with the provisions of the Act for safeguarding the assets of your Bank and for preventing and detecting fraud and other irregularities;

(iv) the annual accounts have been prepared on a going concern basis;

(v) they have laid down internal financial controls to be followed by the Bank and that such internal financial controls are adequate and are operating effectively; and

(vi) they have devised proper systems to ensure compliance with the provisions of all applicable laws and that such systems are adequate and operating effectively.

ANNEXURES

Following statements/reports/certificates are set out as Annexures to the Directors’ Report:

•  Extract of Annual Return under Section 134(3)(a) of the Companies Act, 2013 read with Rule 12 (1) of Companies (Management & Administration) Rules, 2014 (Annexure - A).

•  Secretarial Audit Report pursuant to Section 204 of the Companies Act, 2013 (Annexure - B).

•  Details of CSR Activities and Spends (Annexure - C).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Your Directors would like to place on record their gratitude for the valuable guidance and support received from the Reserve Bank of India, Securities and Exchange Board of India, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority and other Government and Regulatory agencies. Your Directors acknowledge the support of the members and also wish to place on record their appreciation of employees for their commendable efforts, teamwork and professionalism.

For and on behalf of the Board of Directors

Dr. Shankar Acharya

Chairman

Uday Kotak

Executive Vice Chairman and Managing Director

Place: Mumbai,

Date: 11th May 2016